Gov. Chris Christie was in Arkansas yesterday, “stumping for a GOP gubernatorial hopeful” — which apparently means he doesn’t have to answer questions about his day job.
As Matt Arco reports for NJ.com, the governor refused to answer questions “about whether he intends to nominate his chief of staff as the state’s next attorney general”:
“I’m not answering questions about that,” he responded when asked about bumping his chief of staff, Kevin O’Dowd, over to the state’s Office of the Attorney General.
“I can’t believe you traveled all the way to Little Rock to ask me questions about New Jersey politics,” he said. “You can ask me New Jersey political questions anytime you want.”
Except that’s not really true. As Arco points out,
Christie has spent all or part of more than 70 days out of state since being sworn into his second term in January. The bulk of the trips have been for the RGA.
That’s about a third of his time so far this year. More significantly, as Arco writes,
Christie has had five in-state press conferences since April, but he’s held 17 around the country during that same period.
This doesn’t leave a lot of access for New Jersey reporters writing on New Jersey issues — if state politics are going to be off limits when he is out of state.
Hank Kalet 